Vernon Wells

Vernon Wells‘ strong start is a distant memory and he’s hitting .118 with zero homers and a 21/2 K/BB ratio in his last 30 games, posting a ghastly .268 OPS (yes, OPS) dating back to mid-May. For the season he’s now hitting .221 with a .263 on-base percentage and .368 slugging percentage in 68 games,…

Yesterday we learned that Manny Ramirez is leaving his team in Taiwan and has travelled to Japan. There were mixed reports as to whether he had a contract to play for a Japanese team. Jesse Sanchez reports, however, that he does not: Source tells me Manny Ramirez does not have a job in Japan &…

Athletics 3, Yankees 2: Looking at the Yankees side of the box score and noting Robinson Cano‘s contributions compared to everyone else’s and this comes to mind. Mark Teixeira, Travis Hafner, Kevin Youkilis and Vernon Wells combined to go 0 for 28 with 12 strikeouts in this marathon game. And while, yes, hats off to…

It took five hours and 34 minutes, but the Athletics finished off a three-game sweep of the Yankees with a 3-2 win in 18 innings this evening at O.Co Coliseum. Nate Freiman played hero for the Athletics, as he dropped a one-out single into left field off Mariano Rivera to drive in John Jaso for…

Lyle Overbay is 36 years old and has played 1,375 games in the big leagues spread over 13 seasons for six different teams. He’s never played a position other than first base or designated hitter. Until tonight, because Overbay is starting in right field for the Yankees. Overbay did a decent job filling in for…

My kids started their summer vacation on Friday. Two hours into their first day without school my son told me he was bored. After that, and my extended “you have no reason to be bored, there are kids all over the world who would love to have all of the things and advantages you’ve had”…

Part of the reason the Yankees were so good in April and much of May was because they were getting great performances from unexpected players. Like Vernon Wells, who was smacking the ball around to the tune of .300/.366/.544 in the season’s first month but came crashing back to Earth to hit .221/.250/.365 in May.…

Curtis Granderson, who suffered a broken pinkie knuckle when he was hit on the hand by a pitch Friday, underwent surgery today to insert a metal pin into the finger. Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports that Granderson will be out for at least four weeks following the surgery, which is the same initial timetable he…

Dodgers 3, Brewers 1: After the last scene of Don Mattingly’s managerial life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that at many times along the path of his time in Los Angeles, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints. Clayton Kershaw then whispered, “My precious…

Curtis Granderson was moved to left field when he returned from the disabled list this week, but he’ll make his first career start in right field this afternoon against the Blue Jays. According to Chad Jennings of the Journal News, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Granderson was “fine” with the latest move when they discussed…

Derek Albin at Pinstriped Bible looked at the numbers and concluded that Yankees right fielder Ichiro Suzuki isn’t likely to be much more productive than he has been thus far in 2013. The 39-year-old has a .239/.280/.328 line in 145 trips to the plate, putting him on pace for the worst season of his career…

Travis Hafner has been a key part of the Yankees early season surprise. But he’s also Travis Hafner: Hafner sore right shoulder, go for MRI, will miss at least few days #Yankees — Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) May 14, 2013 You hope it’s not serious, but he may as well have legally added the words…

After missing the first 38 games of the season with a fractured forearm Curtis Granderson is off the disabled list and in the Yankees’ lineup for tonight’s game against the Mariners, playing left field and batting cleanup. Granderson went 8-for-20 (.400) with one homer on a brief minor-league rehab assignment, notching at least one hit…

Every now and again — well, let’s face it, pretty much every day now — I get another email telling me that Vernon Wells — Vernon Bleepin’ Wells — just got another two hits with another homer with another three RBIs and so on. The emails are from Michael Schur, Parks and Recreation executive producer,…

Braves 10, Diamondbacks 1: Justin Upton went 4 for 5 with a homer and 2 RBI. Chris Johnson went 3 for 4 with a homer and 3 RBI. Martin Prado had a couple of hits and I suppose he was gritty. Gonna say that the first visit to Arizona for the Braves post-trade falls to…

White Sox 3, Angels 0: Chris Sale was fantastic. And not just because of that suh-weet 1983 throwback jersey. A perfect game into the seventh and then the hit that inning to Mike Trout was all the Angels could muster. Indians 4, Tigers 3: Watched this one with the girlfriend’s parents. Tigers fans. Let’s just…

Vernon Wells hit a two-run home run off of James Shields in the fifth inning of tonight’s contest against the Royals, a key component of the Yankees’ 3-2 victory. It was the eighth homer of the year for the Yankees left fielder, who entered the night with a .282/.333/.484 line. The Yankees acquired Wells from…

First baseman Ryan Howard, 33 years old and still suffering lingering effects of an Achilles injury suffered in Game Five of the 2011 NLDS, should be on the trading block according to David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News. The lefty slugger entered tonight’s game against the Diamondbacks with a .262/.299/.476 line and is in…

Scott Kazmir got knocked around by the Astros in his first start of the season, which made it seem like his comeback with the Indians was destined to fail, but he’s actually been pretty good since then and turned in a very impressive start this afternoon against the A’s. Kazmir tossed six innings of one-run…

Everyone — present company included — laughed when the Yankees acquired Vernon Wells. Vernon Wells and the Yankees are laughing now. He’s hitting .287/.341/.504 with seven homers. When the Yankees needed someone — anyone — to step up while the big guys are all out on the disabled list, Vernon Wells stepped up and then…

Indians 4, Athletics 3: Angel Hernandez said there was not enough evidence with which to overturn the original call of double on Adam Rosales‘ would-be game-tying home run. Of course, the replay clearly shows that it was a home run, with the ball hitting off the railing above the wall. This is pretty simple: If…

Royals 8, Tigers 3: You can try to make Phil Coke a multi-inning reliever all you want, but he’s still going to be a lefty specialist. And when he comes in and has trouble even getting the lefties out, you can’t stick with him. He’s not the one who gave up the grand slam to…

Ho-hum. Just another day of Vernon Wells, Travis Hafner and Lyle Overbay doing the heavy lifting for the Yankees’ offense. Wait, what’s that? Wells, Hafner, and Overbay all homered last night as the Yankees topped the Blue Jays 9-4 at Rogers Centre in Toronto. After dropping four out of their first five games, the Yankees…

For the Yankees to have much of a chance this year, they’re going to have to rack up their runs without hitting a bunch of homers. Their biggest rivals are showing them how its done. On a bitterly cold Wednesday night in the Bronx, the Red Sox amassed 11 singles and two doubles to beat…

It’s not a good sign when a team that’s wrecked by injuries and looking everywhere for lineup help decides you’re not worth keeping around, but that’s exactly what just happened to Juan Rivera. Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that the Yankees have released Rivera, who signed a minor-league contract in late January. New York has…